Update | Where Have I Been?

20 days. I haven't blogged in 20 days; that's nearly an entire month! I know that way back when I first created my blog I took a substantial (7 month) break but that was at the beginning; I was still learning. That's the excuse I'm going with anyways! The end of June and first couple of weeks of July were extremely busy for me. I was planning and organising my 21st birthday party, I got a second job and I was a volunteer first aider at the Beyonce concert at Hampden Park and at T in the Park again this year.

I'll start with my 21st birthday party, which was organised for July 2nd (2 days before my actual birthday). A party is very stressful to organise and can be quite expensive. I knew exactly how I wanted the hall decorated and what type of food I wanted to provide for guests, it was just a case of sorting it all whilst sticking to a budget. Despite the initial stress and panic, everything came together nicely. There was a couple of little problems here and there but overall it was a success and everybody had a good time. There will be a post up about it all shortly.

Secondly, I got another job. As I have mentioned before, I am a volunteer first aider for the Scottish charity St Andrew's First Aid. There are hundreds of first aiders that dedicate as much time as they can to this amazing organisation and through one of them I was lead to an owner of a private ambulance company. Not only did he employ people for his company, he was looking for somebody with first aid experience and a caring nature to provide palliative care for a gentleman whom he was close friends with. I got the job and a position within his company. I was over the moon about this as I am a naturally caring person who is always keen to learn and expand and enhance my skills and experience. The gentleman was lovely and even though I only got to meet him about 6 or 7 times, I'd grown quite fond of him, we got on quite well. Unfortunately, medical complications resulted in his passing shortly after I began caring for him. 

Finally, T in the Park. Last year, I was a first aider at T in the Park and it was the best experience of my life. I had all my close first aid friends with me, I was kept constantly busy from early morning until very late at night and I treated A LOT of people with A LOT of different (and sometimes odd) injuries. Despite there barely being enough time to sleep and eat, I absolutely loved it and could not wait until T in the Park came around once again. This year I would be providing first aid cover at Hampden Park for the Beyonce concert first (which was INCREDIBLE) and then heading straight through to T in the Park. As a first aider this year, I wasn't actually that busy in comparison to last year (which is a good thing) but resulted in me being a little bored at times. Nevertheless I still ended up covered in mud and god knows what else. It was still a long weekend that's for sure. I left my house at 8am on Thursday 7th July and didn't get home until 10pm on Monday 11th July. I was filthy from head to toe and completely exhausted! Once I recovered from T in the Park, there was still the small matter of cleaning all the equipment we had taken to T in the Park in the first place. You'd think we'd left everything lying in the rivers of mud the entire weekend with the state that some the equipment was in. Nevertheless, it had to be cleaned. It took a couple of days to clean everything properly!

As you can see, I have been kept very busy over the last couple of weeks. I am not using that as an excuse but it has definitely been a learning process for me. In future I should have extra blog posts written and ready to upload for times when I do become busy. Incidentally, I am going to be kept fairly busy until the end of July as I have a funeral to attend and yet another festival to provide first aid cover for. I do have blog posts planned out so I'll have them written in advance all ready to be posted for you guys to read and (hopefully) enjoy.

xxx

Best Moments of 2015

I cannot believe there is only three days left of 2015! Where has the year gone? It doesn't feel like a week has gone past never mind a whole year. So much has happened this year but there has been a few memorable moments that have made the year better.

Firstly, I met Louise Pentland, or more famously known as SprinkleofGlitter. She is a YouTuber; a very beautiful, sarcastic and funny YouTuber.

Louise was in Glasgow for her 2016 Diary book signing and as I go to university in Glasgow, I couldn't not go to her signing. I was first in the queue and everything! A professional photographer was there and he took picture of Louise and I since I was at the front. Sadly, I still have no idea where those pictures are but I would absolutely love to see them. I did bring a small little gift for Louise and her daughter Darcy but it wasn't anything special, I just wanted to show her my appreciation. She was so lovely! I just wish I wasn't as much of a nervous mess as I was, I couldn't stop babbling. If I get another chance to meet her, hopefully I won't be as nervous.

Another memorable moment was seeing Jessie J live (again) at the O2 Academy in Glasgow at the very beginning of the year. I queued outside, in below freezing temperatures for over eight hours to be able to get a barrier spot and I did. The show was incredible, Jessie was amazing and so friendly as always and I even got to kind of meet her after the show. A large group of us went and stood at the back entrance of the venue for ages until she came out, she came over, talked and even took a few selfies with people. I nearly got a selfie with her, she had my phone in her hand but her security guards pulled her away to leave. Just my luck! The whole day and night was incredible though, plus technically Jessie J held my hand so I was over the moon with that.

If you have been reading my blog posts regularly, you may have noticed that in my Winter Favourites, I mentioned that my mum and I had been going to quite a lot of musical shows. Well, the night we went to see Legally Blonde: The Musical was one of the best times we have spent together this year. Legally Blonde is one of my favourite films so naturally I loved the musical as well. Since then we have been to see Sister Act (another favourite film of mine) and we are going to see Annie in April which my mum doesn't know about just yet but it'll be great.

St Andrew's First Aid is an amazing volunteer run company that I am extremely proud to be a part of. All of the members are very good friends of mine and great assets to the company. We have had many experiences together from difficult and tough casualties to deciding which drink or shot to get next. They are all a great bunch of people, more like a family and they make each year that goes by that little bit better. 

T in the Park has got to be the top First Aid memory from this year. To say that it was an experience would be an understatement! That is a most definitely good thing though. During those five days I was faced with serious casualties that I treated and helped to save. That experience would not have been anywhere near as good without the rest of the incredible first aiders that I am lucky enough to volunteer with on a weekly basis. I miss T in the Park each day; the busyness, the hectic shifts, the casualties, everything. The people make the company. There is more to the company than just being first aiders and providing support at events all the time, there are nights out as well. The Conference and the Annual Awards Night are two incredible evenings with A LOT of dancing, drinking, selfies and the occasional pizza ordering at 3am. Nights like this are the best, full of fun and happy people.

I am so proud and overjoyed to be a part of such an amazing organisation and my years are always made better by the organisation, they are like my family. They have made my 2015 and I am sure that they will make my 2016 just as good if not better!

xxx